The Munster Senior Hurling Championship will get underway this weekend, and while there is plenty of interest around the fortunate of the likes of Limerick and Clare, there will also be quite a few eyes on Waterford ahead of this year's championship.
Davy Fitzgerald's will enter the competition one the back of a disappointing league campaign, being relegated from Division 1A. As well as that, they were very poor in Munster in 2023, being eliminated at the group stage after losing their opening three fixtures.
It is expected that they could face a similar fate this time around.
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Donal Óg Cusack unsure if Davy Fitzgerald causing Waterford issues
Davy Fitzgerald spoke this week about rumours of discontent among the Waterford squad, something he labelled as a fabrication.
The Clare native is likely to come under pressure in his position if the side disappoint once again this year, although some believe he is not the main problem.
Writing in his column for RTÉ, former Cork star Donal Óg Cusack suggested that the current issues in Waterford run deeper than whatever manager is in charge of the inter-county team.
Waterford host Cork, and the whispers from Waterford are bleak. Crowds are expected to be low and expectations are lower.
Funny, it's seven years now since Waterford put 4-19 past Cork in front of 72,000 people in the All-Ireland semi-final. Back then, Waterford people complained that their manager Derek McGrath was too defensive.
They lost the All-Ireland final by the width of a goal to Galway. The previous year, Waterford hammered Galway in the All-Ireland Under-21 Final. Since then, Ballygunner have become one of the finest club teams in the country.
Waterford have had a few managers since, and each have gone away carrying the can for the county's failures. Maybe there's something deeper amiss.
Waterford have certainly fallen well off the pace over the last couple of years, a trend they will quickly need to reverse if they are want to get back competing at the top level in the near future.
Regardless of who the manager is, it seems there are quite a few problems that need addressing within the county.
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